Decoding Consumer Perception: The Cognitive Mechanisms of Psychological Pricing on Student Purchasing Behavior

Abstract

Psychological pricing is a key strategy businesses use to influence consumer behavior through pricing tactics that appeal to psychological and emotional aspects of purchasing decisions. This study, conducted via a Google Forms survey of 83 individuals, aims to investigate the impact and relation of psychological pricing on student perception, examining how students perceive prices and make purchasing decisions based on pricing strategies. Recognizing consumer behavior is essential for effective marketing plans, and evidence shows that psychological pricing communicates meaning to consumers. This study uses secondary data from research papers, monographs, theses, popular articles, and newspapers to examine the impact of psychological pricing on consumer buying behavior. Findings indicate that socio-demographic factors like age, income, education, gender, lifestyle, family size, reference groups, social roles, status, and psychological patterns like representativeness, product availability, and anchoring heuristics, influence consumer buying behavior. Price-cognizant consumers are more likely to select nine-ending prices, with low-involvement customers, those with minimal hedonic and symbolic attachment profiles, low education, low income, and younger customers being more prone to select nine-ending priced products and services. These findings affect retailers, pricing managers, researchers, academicians, society, and government.